Some people spend all day advancing their careers. From emailing their boss at the crack of dawn to the last check of the messages before the bedside lamp turns off, they are focused only on getting ahead.

What they do in the daylight hours is wondrous. If they could expend that much energy in doing their actual jobs, we would be a high productivity nation.

They “manage up". They never take a problem to their boss and they never give credit to anyone else, if they can help it. Their time is spent schmoozing, stroking egos and wringing the last bit of work from the hapless people who work for them.

Online, they keep their eye on the next chance. They might join forums, blog and try to connect with the most useful and powerful people they can find. They are shameless.

They have recruiters’ numbers on direct dial and they shed their old friends like an autumn tree loses leaves.

A survey just released from LinkedIn shows that most people are relatively more restrained than these flagrant self-promoters. Apparently 66 per cent of the more than 400 Australians surveyed think that they should spend more than 30 minutes a day progressing their careers.

Related Quotes

Company Profile

Around 40 per cent use working hours to develop their careers - which makes sense, given that becoming better and more visible in your work benefits the employer as well.

This is especially the case when 95 per cent of respondents give equal importance to making tea for their boss and updating their job profile or CV.

(Perhaps, the prospect of having play tea-maker is enough to get them updating their CV.)

A spokeswoman for LinkedIn says “progressing careers" would take in activities such as attending networking events, maintaining industry relationships and increasing their knowledge, online and in the real world.

Finally, if employers are keen to keep their ambitious people, they will need to support their desires to advance - 80 per cent of people are more likely to stay at an organisation that has an environment conducive for career development.